Although l have not selected a specific research question to serve as the basis for my dissertation, l am interested in employing demographic and/or epidemiologic techniques to examine an issue within reproductive health and family planning. Potential research areas include: investigating the burden of disease (eg. the health, social and/or demographic impact of HlV/STDs; the role of HlV/STDs in determining pregnancy outcomes; maternal and perinatal morbidity/mortality), breastfeeding and its relation to fertility and/or child survival, or quality of care in the provision of reproductive health/family planning services. These areas are of interest to me because they are not only issues that are pertinent to individuals, but to the broader societies in which they live. l intend to conduct a secondary data analysis in one of the above areas, and l will explore existing literature and data sources over the upcoming year.